Improvement in processes of manufacturing manganese alloys



UNITED S'ra'rns WILLARD P. WARD, or BARTOW counrv, GEORGIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURING MANGANESE ALLOYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 178,490, dated June 6, 1876 application filed February 2, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLARD P. WARD, of Bartow county, in the State of Georgia, have invented a new and Improved Process of Manufacturing Form-Manganese and Metallic Manganese, of which the following is a specification:

This invention has for its object to manufacture, from ores of iron and manganese or manganese ores alone, alloys of iron, manganese, and carbon containing more than twenty-two per cent. of manganese.

It is well known that manganese, being one of the most oxidable of the proper basic metals, is difficult to produce from the ores containing it, and that it has heretofore only been obtained by treating the ore in crucibles and reverberatories, which process is tedious and expensive.

Eminent authorities have stated it to be impossible to treat manganese ores which produce a metal containing more than twentytwo per cent. of manganese in blast-furnaces, owing to the tendency of the metal to oxidize and be absorbed by the flux. Nevertheless, I have found that by my process these difficulties can be overcome.

My invention consists, principally, in charging the blast-furnace with a larger proportion of fuel than is used for reducing other ore; and, secondly, in so adjusting the composition of the flux that it will melt at the same, or nearly the same, temperature as the alloy or compound. This latter precaution is not necessary with other metals, because they do not oxidize as readily as manganese, but if manganese be allowed to melt before the flux, the melted metal would become more or less oxidized, and be taken up by the cinder, and combine therewith, while, if the flux melts before the manganese, it would also absorb the oxide of manganese created by contact with the blast but if the metal and the flux melt at the same, or nearly the same, temperature, this difficulty is entirely overcome, and the flux will float upon the molten metal, and can be readily separated therefrom.

The flux which I have found to answer the purpose is, for ore yielding about thirty per centum of metallic manganese, composed of limestone, say about twenty-six per centum magnesia, about. 8.7 5 per centum; a considerable proportion of alumina, say about 23.60 per centum; and sufficient silicious matter, say about 41.65 per centum, to form a singulosilicate cinder, which will melt at the same, or nearly the same, temperature as the metal, and thereby prevent the metal from being subjected to the oxidizing influence of the blast. It is evident, however, that the composition of the flux must be made to conform to that of the ore, as the more manganese the ore contains the more infusible it will be found, and, consequently, the more infusible the cinder should be rendered, and because all ore also contains other constituents, which have to be regarded in compounding the cinder. It is quite impossible, therefore, to give a formula that could be correct in every case.

Metallurgists will, by the above explanation, be enabled to properly regulate the flux in each charge according to the peculiarities of the ore contained therein.

As to the proportion of fuel, it is necessary to use from sixty to seventy bushels of charcoal, or an equivalent amount of coke or other fuel, to every ton of ore yielding about twenty-five per cent. of metallic manganese, where heretofore, in blast-furnaces, the usual charge of fuel was from fifty to fifty-five bushels of charcoal, or an equivalent amount of coke or other fuel, to every ton of ore containing about fifty per cent. of metallic iron. I

The object of using the additional fuel is to obtain a hi gher degree of temperature, as the manganese ore cannot be practically reduced in the ordinary heat employed for reducing iron ore without losing too much manganese in the cinder.

After the furnace has been put in blast my process may be continued effectually with a reduced charge of fuel, provided the heat of the blast is proportionately increased. In every other respect my process does not differ from that usually employed for smelting iron-ores in blast-furnaces with the aid of a hot-blast.

I claim as my invention- 1. The herein-described process of smelting manganese ore, the same consisting in said ore with a flux which will melt at the reducing the ore in a blast-furnace by means same temperature as the reduced metal, subof a large proportion of fuel and a flux havstantially as stated, for the purpose set forth. ing about the melting-point of the reduced WILLARD P. WARD. metal, substantially as described. Witnesses:

2. In the process of reducing manganese OTTO A. WEIDNER,

ore in a blast-furnace, the combination of r F. V. BRIESEN. 

